Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field eBook

On the pages where the daily incidents of the plantation
were recorded, I frequently discovered entries that
illustrated the “peculiar institution.”
Some of them read thus:—­

June 5th. Whipped Harry and Sarah to-day,
because they didn’t keep up their rows. July
7th. Aleck ran away to the woods, because
I threatened to whip him.

July 9th. Got Mr. Hall’s dogs and
hunted Aleck. Didn’t find him. Think
he is in the swamp back of Brandon’s.

July 12th. Took Aleck out of Vidalia
jail. Paid $4.50 for jail fees. Put him in
the stocks when we got home.

July 30th. Moses died this morning.
Charles and Henry buried him. His wife was allowed
to keep out of the field until noon.

August 10th. Sent six mules and four
negroes down to the lower plantation. They will
come back to-morrow.

September 9th. John said he was sick
this morning, but I made him go to the field.
They brought him in before noon. He has a bad
fever. Am afraid he won’t be able to go
out again soon.

September 20th. Whipped Susan, because
she didn’t pick as much cotton as she did yesterday.

September 29th. Put William in the stocks
and kept him till sunset, for telling Charles he wanted
to run away.

October 8th. William and Susan want to
be married. Told them I should not allow it,
but they might live together if they wanted to.

(The above memorandum was explained to me by one of
the negroes. The owner of the plantation did
not approve of marriages, because they were inconvenient
in case it was desired to sell a portion of the working
force.)

October 1st. Took an inventory of the
negroes and stock. Their value is about the same
as when the last inventory was taken.

December 3d. Finished picking. Gave
the negroes half a holiday.

Nearly every day’s entry shows the character
and amount of work performed. Thus we have:—­

February 10th. Fifteen plows running,
five hands piling logs, four hands ditching, six hands
in trash-gang.

In the planting, hoeing, and picking seasons, the
result of the labor was recorded in the same manner.
Whippings were more or less frequent, according to
the character of the overseer. Under one overseer
I found that whippings were rare. Under other
overseers they were of common occurrence.

The individual who prepared the “Plantation
Record” for the publishers, gave, in addition
to directions for its use, instructions for the overseer’s
general conduct.

I copy them below, preserving the author’s language
throughout.

THE DUTIES OF AN OVERSEER.

It is here supposed that the overseer is not immediately
under his employer’s eye, but is left for days
or weeks, perhaps months, to the exercise of his own
judgment in the management of the plantation.
To him we would say—­